PNNL researcher receives highest fuel cell honor

RICHLAND, Wash. –
Fuel cell pioneer Subhash Singhal, a Battelle Fellow and Director, Fuel Cells at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has received the Christian Friedrich Schoenbein Gold Medal for his outstanding contributions to solid oxide fuel cell technology. The biennial award is the highest honor presented by the European Fuel Cell Forum.

The medal is named for the Swiss scientist who is credited with identifying the fundamental chemistry of fuel cells and, together with Sir William Robert Grove, for the creation of the fuel cell in 1839.

Singhal joined PNNL in April 2000 after nearly 30 years at Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation, where he led development of solid oxide fuel cell technology from a laboratory curiosity to fully integrated 200 kW power generation systems. At PNNL, Singhal provides senior technical, managerial and commercialization leadership to the laboratory’s fuel cell program.

A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Singhal is a Fellow of four professional societies—American Ceramic Society, Electrochemical Society, ASM International, and American Association for the Advancement of Science—and a senior member of TMS, the Mineral, Metals & Materials Society. He also has served on numerous national and international advisory panels.

Singhal has authored more than 75 scientific publications, edited 13 books, received 13 patents and delivered over 225 plenary, keynote and other invited presentations worldwide. He is an adjunct professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Utah and serves on the Visiting Advisory Board of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Florida.

The award was presented to Singhal by Professor John Kilner, chairman of the Seventh European Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Forum and Ulf Bossel, chairman of the European Fuel Cell Forum during the closing ceremony of the forum’s July meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Interdisciplinary teams at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory address many of America's most pressing issues in energy, the environment and national security through advances in basic and applied science. Founded in 1965, PNNL employs 4,400 staff and has an annual budget of nearly $1 billion. It is managed by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. As the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, the Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information on PNNL, visit the PNNL News Center, or follow PNNL on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter.